Fans of Saturday Night Live are familiar with the tradition that “Weekend Update” hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che have for season finales and holiday episodes, where they write jokes for each other to read on air without seeing them beforehand. For us at home, the joke swap is a highly anticipated event, but Jost’s wife Scarlett Johansson has a completely different perspective. With Che regularly including jokes about her in the material he gives to Jost, the Marvel actress admitted she blacks out during those segments, but how does it affect how she feels about Che?
Scarlett Johansson Blacked Out During Colin Jost’s ‘Painful’ SNL Joke Swap
During Saturday Night Live’s season finale back in May, Colin Jost delivered a brutal joke about Scarlett Johansson relating to the movie Her, in which Johansson voices an A.I. character. The line that Michael Che wrote claimed that Jost had never seen his wife’s movie because “without that body, what’s the point of listening?” Soon after the episode aired, Johansson appeared on a segment of The Kelly Clarkson Show, where she revealed what it was like to watch that happen. She said:
We need to go into, like, witness protection after that night. Like, I am absolutely terrified we’re going to be targeted. It’s so bad. I black out for that period of the night. I actually don’t remember it. As soon as the picture came up, I was like, [screams]. It is brutal. It is brutal. I feel like every year it gets worse. It’s just terrible. It’s painful. I actually don’t remember that segment. I fully blacked out.
I can only imagine how much anxiety that would cause, knowing that your name is probably going to get brought up but having no idea what your husband is going to say about you. That line, as Scarlett Johansson told Kelly Clarkson, was pretty tame too, compared to the other material Michael Che wrote, which undoubtedly adds to how terrifying the joke swaps are. So where does the two-time Oscar nominee stand with Che?
Does Scarlett Johansson ‘Get Mad’ At Michael Che For Writing Jokes About Her?
The SNL season finale wasn’t the first (or probably last) time Michael Che wrote a joke about her for Colin Jost to read live on the air — he included her in the host of inappropriate jokes the “Weekend Update” hosts exchanged around Christmas time and many other times over the years. As painful as it clearly is, Scarlett Johansson doesn’t seem to take it personally, as she opened up to the New York Times about the segment and how she feels about Che afterward, saying:
I think I blacked out during it. I certainly don’t get mad. I definitely am terrified that I’m going to have to go into hiding now, get a bunch of hate mail. Yet somehow, immediately afterward, I can have a beer with Che.
Whether she knows it’s all in good fun or simply understands that it’s part of her husband’s job, Scarlett Johansson doesn’t hold any ill will toward Michael Che for the jokes he writes for Colin Jost (which is fair, given the fact that Jost’s jokes for Che are just as bad).
Keep your eye on the 2024 TV schedule for SNL’s 50th season premiere date, and in the meantime, you can see Colin Jost cameo in Scarlett Johansson’s new movie Fly Me to the Moon. Be sure to also take a peek at CinemaBlend’s interview with director Greg Berlanti, as they discuss the actress and the fake moon landing rom-com.
